Nacht und Träume

Cyclamen with its silver heart leaves is found in autumn scattered like pink stars in shady, often gloomy, places. Dear to the muses and Hecate, the mother goddess of dark, chthonic glades….. and witchcraft: it is the flower of opposites.
In folklore it symbolised both life and death; an ingredient of wedding cakes to increase fertility, yet a woman who walked barefoot on cyclamen would abort; both a love potion and a gracious farewell to love: Cyclamen as its name implies means cycle (from Greek kyklos).

The colours in this picture came to me whilst listening to Schubert’s ‘Nacht und Träume’ (Night and Dreams) on the radio early in the morning. Half asleep, I imagined dark gold- amber on black. I felt a strong desire to realise an image using this colour scheme and I felt this picture with it’s chthonic atmosphere lent itself to night and dreams.

Holy night, you sink down; dreams, too, drift down Like your moonlight through space, Through the quiet hearts of men; They listen with delight Calling out when day awakens: Return, holy night!